Workplace: AI-first adoption for engineering teams¶
This folder is for leads, managers, AI champions, and the skeptical engineers they work with.
Last checked November 8, 2026.
Use the modules to adopt AI-accelerated engineering on a team, with a named human accountable for every change. It's written for a generic engineering team, so adapt the examples, numbers, and placeholders to yours.
What's here¶
| File | What it is | Who it's for | Use it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| ai-first-playbook.md | A phased rollout plan: prerequisites, a champions pilot, a team-wide baseline, and advanced use. Includes a starter instruction file, a review policy for AI-written PRs, how to measure, budgeting and security summaries, the juniors-learning problem, a 30/60/90-day checklist, and how to keep current | Leads and champions | You've been asked to "get the team using AI" |
| objections.md | 24 common objections from engineers and managers, each with what's true, an honest answer grounded in the modules, and an experiment to run | Champions, leads, and skeptics | Someone says "it hallucinates," "METR says it's slower," or "security will never approve it" |
| session-series.md | An eight-session internal training series (45–60 minutes each), from a demo-first pitch for skeptics to running agents in parallel with cross-model review. Every session has a pre-read, a timed agenda, a demo script, and a hands-on exercise on your own repository | Champions who facilitate | Phase 2 of the rollout, or any time you want to run lunch-and-learns |
| policy-template.md | A fill-in-the-blanks team AI usage policy: approved tools, data classes, required settings, human approval for irreversible actions, review, disclosure, secrets, open source, automation, IP, incidents, and review cadence | Leads, with security, legal, and privacy | Phase 0, before anyone uses AI on company code. Not legal advice |
Suggested order¶
If you're a lead: 1. The leads path, about three hours of module reading. 2. The playbook, start to finish. 3. The policy template, filled in and sent for review. 4. Skim the objections so you know what's coming.
If you're a champion: 1. The engineer path, including its two-week practice plan. 2. The playbook's Phase 1, which is your pilot. 3. The session series, starting with Session 0. 4. The objections, before every session.
If you're a skeptic: start with the objections. Each one begins with what your side gets right.
Principles behind this material¶
- Reach for the tool by default, and keep the skills to work without it (module 15).
- Tools can write, review, and fix code, but a person approves every change and answers for the result (module 10).
- The productivity research is mixed (module 05), so measure your own team.
- Bryan Roscoe's opinions appear only in "Bryan's take" callouts. Everything else links to a sourced module section.
Keeping it fresh¶
Prices, plans, and model names here are as of November 2026 and live mainly in module 03 and module 12. The practices change more slowly. Review your copies of these documents quarterly, alongside your team AI radar.